1987 United Kingdom general election

The 1987 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the Conservative Party, and second landslide under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to lead a party into three successive electoral victories.

1987 United Kingdom general election
11 June 1987
All 650 seats in the House of Commons
326 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout75.3%, 2.6%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Margaret Thatcher Neil Kinnock
Party Conservative Labour Alliance
Leader since 11 February 1975 2 October 1983
Leader's seat Finchley Islwyn
Last election 397 seats, 42.4% 209 seats, 27.6% 23 seats, 25.4%
Seats won 376 229 22
Seat change 21 20 1
Popular vote 13,760,583 10,029,807 7,341,633
Percentage 42.2% 30.8% 22.6%
Swing 0.2% 3.2% 2.8%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election

Margaret Thatcher
Conservative

 Prime Minister after election

Margaret Thatcher
Conservative

The Conservatives ran a campaign focusing on lower taxes, a strong economy and strong defence. They also emphasised that unemployment had fallen below the 3 million mark for the first time since 1981, and inflation was standing at 4%, its lowest level for some twenty years. The tabloid media also had strong support for the Conservative Party, particularly The Sun, which ran anti-Labour articles with headlines such as "Why I'm backing Kinnock, by Stalin".[1]

The Labour Party, led by Neil Kinnock, was slowly moving towards a more centrist policy platform. The main aim of the Labour Party was simply to re-establish itself as the main progressive centre-left alternative to the Conservatives, after the rise of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) forced Labour onto the defensive. Indeed, the Labour Party succeeded in doing so at this general election. The Alliance between the SDP and the Liberal Party was renewed but co-leaders David Owen and David Steel could not agree whether to support either major party in the event of a hung parliament.

The Conservatives were returned to government, having suffered a net loss of only 21 seats, leaving them with 376 MPs and a second landslide majority of 102. Labour succeeded in resisting the challenge by the SDP–Liberal Alliance to become the main opposition. Moreover, Labour managed to increase its vote share in Scotland, Wales and the North of England. Yet Labour still returned only 229 MPs to Westminster, and in certain London constituencies which Labour had held before the election, the Conservatives actually made gains.

The election was a disappointment for the Alliance, which saw its vote share fall and suffered a net loss of one seat as well as former SDP leader Roy Jenkins losing his seat. This led to the two parties eventually merging completely to become the Liberal Democrats. In Northern Ireland, the main unionist parties maintained their alliance in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, however the Ulster Unionists lost two seats to the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

The 1987 election was the last in which the Conservatives won the popular vote in a general election by more than 10 points until the 2019 election, and the last time they would hold more than 336 seats in the House of Commons until the 58th Parliament following the 2019 election. The 50th Parliament is the last time a Conservative government has lasted a full term with an overall majority of seats in Parliament.

The election night was covered live on the BBC and presented by David Dimbleby, Peter Snow and Sir Robin Day.[2] It was also broadcast on ITV and presented by Sir Alastair Burnet, Peter Sissons and Alastair Stewart.

The 1987 general election saw the election of the first Afro-Caribbean members of Parliament: Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant. MPs leaving the House of Commons as a result of this election included former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan, Keith Joseph, James Prior, Ian Mikardo, Roy Jenkins, former Health Minister Enoch Powell and Clement Freud.

Campaign and policies

The Conservatives' campaign emphasised lower taxes, a strong economy and defence, and also employed rapid-response reactions to take advantage of Labour errors. Norman Tebbit and Saatchi and Saatchi spearheaded the Conservative campaign. However, when on "Wobbly Thursday" it was rumoured a Marplan opinion poll showed a 2% Conservative lead, the "exiles" camp of David Young, Tim Bell and the Young & Rubicam firm advocated a more aggressively anti-Labour message. This was when, according to Young's memoirs, Young got Tebbit by the lapels and shook him, shouting: "Norman, listen to me, we're about to lose this fucking election."[3][4] In his memoirs Tebbit defends the Conservative campaign: "We finished exactly as planned on the ground where Labour was weak and we were strong—defence, taxation, and the economy."[5] During the election campaign however Tebbit and Thatcher argued.[6]

Bell and Saatchi and Saatchi produced memorable posters for the Conservatives, such as a picture of a British soldier's arms raised in surrender with the caption "Labour's Policy On Arms"—a reference to Labour's policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. The first Conservative party political broadcast played on the theme of "Freedom" and ended with a fluttering Union Jack, the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country (which Thatcher would later quote in her "Sermon on the Mound") and the slogan "It's Great To Be Great Again".

The Labour campaign was a marked change from previous efforts; professionally directed by Peter Mandelson and Bryan Gould, it concentrated on presenting and improving Neil Kinnock's image to the electorate. Labour's first party political broadcast, dubbed Kinnock: The Movie, was directed by Hugh Hudson of Chariots of Fire fame, and concentrated on portraying Kinnock as a caring, compassionate family man. It was filmed at the Great Orme in Wales and had "Ode to Joy" as its music.[7] He was particularly critical of the high unemployment that the government's economic policies had resulted in, as well as condemning the wait for treatment that many patients had endured on the National Health Service. Kinnock's personal popularity jumped 16 points overnight after the initial broadcast.[8]

On 24 May, Kinnock was interviewed by David Frost and claimed that Labour's alternative defence strategy in the event of a Soviet attack would be "using the resources you've got to make any occupation totally untenable". In a speech two days later Thatcher attacked Labour's defence policy as a programme for "defeat, surrender, occupation, and finally, prolonged guerrilla fighting ... I do not understand how anyone who aspires to Government can treat the defence of our country so lightly".[9]

Endorsements

The following newspapers endorsed political parties running in the election in the following ways:[10]

Newspaper Party/ies endorsed
The Sun Conservative Party
Daily Mirror Labour Party
Daily Mail Conservative Party
Daily Express Conservative Party
Daily Telegraph Conservative Party
The Guardian Labour Party
The Independent None
The Times Conservative Party

Opinion polling
Main article: Opinion polling for the 1987 United Kingdom general election
Opinion polling for UK general elections
1979 election
Opinion polls
1983 election
Opinion polls
1987 election
Opinion polls
1992 election
Opinion polls
1997 election
Opinion polls
  Conservative   Labour   SDP–Liberal Alliance

Results

The Conservatives were returned by a third landslide victory with a comfortable majority, down slightly on 1983 with a swing of 1.5% towards Labour. The BBC announced the result at 02:35. Increasing polarisation marked divisions across the country; the Conservatives dominated Southern England and took additional seats from Labour in London and the rest of the South, but performed less well in Northern England, Scotland and Wales, losing many of the seats they had won there in previous elections. Yet the overall result of this election proved that the policies of Margaret Thatcher retained significant support, with the Conservatives given a third convincing majority.

Despite initial optimism and the professional campaign run by Neil Kinnock, the election brought only twenty additional seats for Labour from the 1983 Conservative landslide. In many southern areas, the Labour vote actually fell, with the party losing seats in London. However, it represented a decisive victory against the SDP–Liberal Alliance and marked out the Labour Party as the main opposition to the Conservative Party. This was in stark contrast to 1983, when the Alliance almost matched Labour in terms of votes—although Labour had almost 10 times as many seats as the Alliance.

The result for the Alliance was a disappointment, in that they had hoped to overtake Labour as the second party in the UK in terms of vote share. Instead, they lost one net seat and saw their vote share drop by almost 3%, with a widening gap of 8% between them and the Labour Party (compared to a 2% gap four years before). These results would eventually lead to the end of the Alliance and the birth of the Liberal Democrats.

Most of the prominent MPs retained their seats. Notable failures included Enoch Powell (the controversial former Conservative MP who had defected to the Ulster Unionist Party) and two Alliance members: Liberal Clement Freud and former SDP leader Roy Jenkins (a former Labour Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer). Margaret Thatcher increased her share of the vote in her own seat in Finchley, but the Labour vote increased further, thereby reducing her majority.

In Northern Ireland, the various unionist parties maintained an electoral pact (with few dissenters) in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. However, the Ulster Unionists lost two seats to the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

The election victory won by the Conservatives could also arguably be attributed to the rise in average living standards that had taken place during their time in office. As noted by Dennis Kavanagh and David Butler in their study on the 1987 election:

Since 1987 the Conservatives had located a large constituency of "winners", people who have an interest in the return of a Conservative government. It includes much of the affluent South, home-owners, share-owners, and most of those in work, whose standard of living, measured in post-tax incomes, has risen appreciably since 1979.[11]

↓ 
376 229 22 23
Conservative Labour Alliance O

UK general election 1987
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative Margaret Thatcher 633 376 9 30 −21 57.85 42.2 13,760,583 −0.2
  Labour Neil Kinnock 633 229 26 6 +20 35.23 30.8 10,029,807 +3.2
  Alliance David Owen & David Steel 633 22 5 6 −1 3.38 22.6 7,341,633 −2.8
  SNP Gordon Wilson 72 3 3 2 +1 0.46 1.3 416,473 +0.2
  UUP James Molyneaux 12 9 0 2 −2 1.38 0.8 276,230 0.0
  SDLP John Hume 13 3 2 0 +2 0.46 0.5 154,067 +0.1
  Plaid Cymru Dafydd Elis-Thomas 38 3 1 0 +1 0.46 0.4 123,599 0.0
  Green N/A 133 0 0 0 0 0.3 89,753 +0.1
  DUP Ian Paisley 4 3 0 0 0 0.46 0.3 85,642 −0.2
  Sinn Féin Gerry Adams 14 1 0 0 0 0.15 0.3 83,389 0.0
  Alliance John Alderdice 16 0 0 0 0 0.2 72,671 0.0
  Workers' Party Tomás Mac Giolla 14 0 0 0 0 0.1 19,294 +0.1
  UPUP James Kilfedder 1 1 0 0 0 0.15 0.1 18,420 0.0
  Real Unionist Robert McCartney 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 14,467 N/A
  Communist Gordon McLennan 19 0 0 0 0 0.0 6,078 0.0
  Protestant Unionist George Seawright 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 5,671 N/A
  Red Front N/A 14 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,177 N/A
  Orkney and Shetland Movement John Goodlad 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,095 N/A
  Moderate Labour Brian Marshall 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 2,269 N/A
  Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,951 0.0
  Workers Revolutionary Sheila Torrance 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,721 0.0
  Independent Liberal N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 686 0.0
  BNP John Tyndall 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 553 0.0
  Spare the Earth N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 522 N/A
All parties gaining over 500 votes listed.
Government's new majority 102
Total votes cast 32,529,578
Turnout 75.3%

Votes summary
Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring)
Popular vote
Conservative
 
 42.3%
Labour
 
 30.8%
SDP–Liberal
 
 22.6%
Scottish National
 
 1.3%
Ulster Unionist
 
 0.9%
Others
 
 2.2%

Seats summary
Parliamentary seats
Conservative
 
 57.9%
Labour
 
 35.2%
SDP–Liberal
 
 3.4%
Ulster Unionist
 
 1.4%
Others
 
 2.2%
The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 1987 election was "17.82" according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between the Conservatives and the Alliance.

Incumbents defeated
Party Name Constituency Office held whilst in power Year elected Defeated by Party
Conservative Gerry Malone Aberdeen South 1983 Frank Doran Labour
The Rt Hon Peter Fraser East Angus Solicitor General for Scotland 1979 Andrew Welsh SNP
John MacKay Argyll and Bute Under-Secretary of State for Scotland 1979 Ray Mitchie Liberal
Sir Albert McQuarrie Banff and Buchan 1979 Alex Salmond SNP
Geoffrey Lawler Bradford North 1983 Pat Wall Labour
Peter Hubbard-Miles Bridgend Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales 1983 Win Griffiths
Stefan Terlezki Cardiff West 1983 Rhodri Morgan
Robert Harvey Clwyd South-West 1983 Martyn Jones
John Corrie Cunninghame North February 1974 Brian Wilson
John Whitfield Dewsbury 1983 Ann Taylor
Alexander MacPherson Fletcher Edinburgh Central 1973 Alistair Darling
Steven Norris Oxford East 1983 Andrew Smith
Barry Henderson North East Fife 1979 Menzies Campbell Liberal
Richard Hickmet Glanford and Scunthorpe 1983 Elliot Morley Labour
Roy Galley Halifax 1983 Alice Mahon
Peter Bruinvels Leicester East 1983 Keith Vaz
Derek Spencer Leicester South 1983 Jim Marshall
Fred Silvester Manchester Withington February 1974 Keith Bradley
Alexander Pollock Moray Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence 1979 Margaret Ewing SNP
Piers Merchant Newcastle upon Tyne Central 1983 Jim Cousins Labour
Mark Robinson Newport West 1983 Paul Flynn
Richard Ottaway Nottingham North 1983 Graham Allen
Anna McCurley Renfrew West and Inverclyde 1983 Tommy Graham
Michael Hirst Strathkelvin and Bearsden 1983 Sam Galbraith
Warren Hawksley The Wrekin 1979 Bruce Grocott
John Powley Norwich South 1983 John Garrett
The Rt Hon Michael Ancram, Earl of Ancram Edinburgh South 1979 Nigel Griffiths
Labour Alfred Dubs Battersea 1979 John Bowis Conservative
Willie Hamilton Central Fife (stood in South Hams) 1950 Anthony Steen
Nick Raynsford Fulham 1986 Matthew Carrington
Kenneth Weetch Ipswich October 1974 Michael Irvine
Oonagh McDonald Thurrock Opposition Spokesman on Treasury and Economic Affairs 1976 Tim Janman
Eric Deakins Walthamstow 1970 Hugo Summerson
Liberal Sir Clement Freud North East Cambridgeshire 1973 Malcolm Moss
Michael Meadowcroft Leeds West 1983 John Battle Labour
Elizabeth Shields Ryedale 1986 John Greenway Conservative
SDP The Rt Hon Roy Jenkins Glasgow Hillhead Former Leader of the Social Democratic Party 1982 George Galloway Labour
Mike Hancock Portsmouth South 1984 David Martin Conservative
Ian Wrigglesworth Stockton South February 1974 Tim Devlin
SNP Gordon Wilson Dundee East Leader of the Scottish National Party February 1974 John McAllion Labour
UUP The Rt Hon Brig Enoch Powell South Down 1950 Eddie McGrady SDLP

See also

References
  1. James Thomas (7 May 2007). Popular Newspapers, the Labour Party and British Politics. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-135-77373-1.
  2. BBC Election 1987 coverage on YouTube
  3. Campbell 2003, p. 522.
  4. Oborne, Peter (19 March 2005). "Has Gordon Brown delivered his last Budget? The truth is that Blair hasn't yet decided". The Spectator. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  5. Tebbit 1988, p. 336.
  6. Thatcher 1993, p. 584.
  7. "World in Motion", The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook, BBC, retrieved 2 July 2018
  8. Butler & Kavanagh 1988, p. 154.
  9. Speech to Conservative Rally in Newport, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, 26 May 1987, retrieved 2 July 2018
  10. 'Newspaper support in UK general elections' (2010) on The Guardian.
  11. Butler & Kavanagh 1988, p. 277.

Biographies

Scholarly sources
  • Butler, David E.; Kavanagh, Dennis (1988), The British General Election of 1987, the standard scholarly study
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
  • Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1990), British General Election Manifestos, 1959–1987
  • Crewe, Ivor; Harrop, Martin (1989), Political Communications: The General Election Campaign of 1987, p. 316
  • Galbraith, John W.; Rae, Nicol C. (1989), "A Test of the Importance of Tactical Voting: Great Britain, 1987", British Journal of Political Science, 19 (1): 126–136, doi:10.1017/S0007123400005366, JSTOR 193792
  • Scott, Len (2012), "Selling or Selling Out Nuclear Disarmament? Labour, the Bomb, and the 1987 General Election", International History Review, 34 (1): 115–137, doi:10.1080/07075332.2012.620242
  • Stewart, Marianne C.; Clarke, Harold D. (1992), "The (un)importance of party leaders: Leader images and party choice in the 1987 British election", Journal of Politics, 54 (2): 447–470, doi:10.2307/2132034, JSTOR 2132034, says the well-organised, media-wise Labour campaign helped Kinnock, but he was hurt by Conservative momentum and Thatcher's image as a decisive leader. Leadership images proved more important in voters' choices than did party identification, economic concerns, etc.

Manifestos
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